Name
Masa Kobayashi
Job title
Art Director, Creative Content
Tell us a little about you
Always daydreaming, admiring the incredible work out
there, keeping up with everything and still loving it –
photography’s become my life.
Tell us what a typical day at work is like for you
Checking emails, news, blogs and editing images
during the mornings. Meeting with photographers and
attending shoots in the afternoons.
What has excited you recently in photography?
Meeting with Erwin Olaf at the opening reception of his
solo exhibition in Tokyo and then at Paris Photo. And the
work of 2011 TED prize winner, JR, was also something
very exciting.
Likes
Anything created with love.
Dislikes
Politics, dishonesty and cod roe. That’s the only food
I can’t even touch.

Friendship/
Community/
With our lives becoming increasingly more
digital, making the time for real connections is
more important than ever, sharing experiences
and being part of something bigger; hence our
look at friendship and community.
KEYWORD: #newfriendship

Name
Thomas Tolstrup
Works
Denmark
How did you get into photography?
I was actually studying engineering when, on
vacation, I bought a camera and fell in love with
photography. I remember dreaming about
compositions and f.stops – quite nerdy – before
finally attending the Danish school of journalism.
What genre of pictures do you make?
I make a bit of everything, really. I get a lot of
corporate jobs and many of these have editorial
elements. There’s a big need for authenticity in the
corporate and advertising world today.
What about your personal projects?
Portraits will always be a great interest of mine.
People interest me, and a camera is a free ticket to
connect with other people.
On my recent sport shoot I connected so well with the
athletes that I decided to do some portraiture of them.
That’s typical of how I work; I start out on one job and
end up thinking about what else I could do. One thing
leads to another, and my personal work comes out of it.

What’s a typical day like for you?
After time with my family, I usually have jobs booked
from around 9.30am each day. I have a studio
manager who helps keep me organised. I split my time
between shooting, retouching and meetings at my
studio and being out and about visiting clients and
shooting on location. Every day is very different.
Can you tell us about a recent shoot?
When I shoot for Getty Images I really enjoy the
pre-production, developing and collaborating on ideas
with my Art Director Guy Merrill. We recently shot a
sports series focusing on the performance aspect of
sport – illustrating the peak of the action, the
dynamism, energy, expression and dedication of
athletes.
The challenge was to freeze those heroic action
moments in a variety of sports.
Working with real athletes is what made this shoot
come alive, they love to perform so they are happy to
do things again and again so we can get the right shot.
The technical side of the shoot was the most
challenging part, getting perfect focus when things are
moving fast, predicting the athletes movements.

Sports/
It’s 2012 and, thanks to the Olympic Games,
one subject will dominate – sport. The dreams,
determination, natural-born talent and sheer hard
work of the world’s best athletes will all come
together in the greatest show on earth.

Authenticity is increasingly important to
communicators everywhere. And with over
300,000 images of real life moments in our Flickr
collection, we thought it was time to reflect on
what authentic means in the visual narrative.

Our always-on lives are driving us to have a greater need
to connect with our environment. From adrenaline fuelled
rock climbing to the peace and serenity of a country
walk, the great outdoors is calling.
KEYWORD: #newoutdoors

We heat our homes, fill up the car,
and plug in our electronic devices
as if it’s the most natural thing in
the world. But scratch the surface
and energy becomes a
complicated issue.

Health and wellness has never
been more significant economically,
as well as socially, but it means
different things to different people.
Technology has changed the
conversations around health
radically, through online research
tools, communities, personal
devices and apps.

It looks as if we’re not through yet
with global financial crises, but the
initial shock of 2008 is still sticking
with us and has fundamentally
shifted consumer thinking.

In this issue we look at ways to
visualise energy as an “invisible”
product – through global
environmental events, sustainable
living and the importance of
looking into the future.

In this issue we try to define what
wellness is today; highlight the age
of iMedicine; take a look at the
changed beauty market and
discuss how food is becoming
more important to our health.

Confidence in governments,
big corporations and banks
is low. Values like honesty,
transparency and trust become
ever more important. In this issue
we examine how finance brands
need to communicate in order
to establish themselves as
trustworthy, honest and open
partners.

5

4

Look out for the technology issue
For the technology issue of the Curve, we will look at
our relationship with technology and dive into images
used to advertise consumer electronics.
Can you imagine it was only 91 years ago, in 1921, that
for the first time ever the audience listening to an event,
a boxing match in Madison Square Garden, was larger
than the crowd watching it live?

6

Technology and media changed and still changes our
lives. We keep getting more and more entangled with
ever-new technologies which promise to bridge
distance and time, make our lives easier and connect
us together. Today, it seems, we no longer live with
technology, but live in it. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re always on, obsessed
with constant updates and chasing the next best thing.
7

Regional/
Focus/UKO
This is going to be a big year for the UK. As host to
the London 2012 Olympic Games and Her Majesty the
Queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s diamond jubilee celebrations, the country will
be on show to the world. So, with that in mind, hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
a little of what you might expect to see coming up.

Gather/
Late 2011, we held the first of a series of talks
promoting creativity content and ideas. Using the
Japanese format Pecha Kucha, we asked some of
London’s hottest new talent to share some recent
projects and ideas with a small intimate crowd at the
Getty Images Gallery in London’s Oxford Circus.
Look out for our next Gather event in May 2012.

Peer/

Our blog, Peer, showcases new creative imagery from
our offices around the world – London, New York, Tokyo
and Sydney. Discover the results as we collaborate with
some of the world’s most prolific photographers.